17
by lull.and.waves
Summary: -"Put a frog in it." Ryone stuffed a Chocolate Frog into Sirius's mouth. Sirius grinned wolfishly. "Hand-feeding me sweets already, darling? When can we bring it into, oh, say, the bedroom?" Ryone gasped sharply. "You pervert! You-you-you perfect prat!"-
1. Off Rocker

17

Prologue

_He was drifting blissfully along rich green meadows, thick with white and red and pink roses. The sun shone softly down on him, and over the knoll came a lily-like maiden, with flowing tomato-red hair and sparkling emerald eyes that regarded him with a light, warm amusement. Her voice was as soft and sweet as the summer breeze as it floated over to him. She beckoned to him, her slender white hand reaching out to him. His feet lifted off the ground and he began to slowly but steadily approach this beautiful young woman of his dreams. He extended his own hand as he neared the red-haired fairy girl. She smiled encouragingly. He stretched out his hand a little farther, and his fingertips came within mere millimeters of hers until, finally—_

"RISE AND SHINE, JAMESIE BOY!!!"

James Potter yelped as he woke with a start, flailing wildly in a tangle of sheets, pillows, and limbs. He careened off the edge of his bed and fell to the floor with an inglorious thump. Sirius Black snickered as he crossed the room and thrust open the blinds. "Beautiful," he applauded, grinning.

James shot a dirty look at Sirius as he picked himself up off the floor. "How did you get in here?!"

Sirius shrugged. "Your mother let me in," he said innocently.

James growled. "I'm going to take a shower," he muttered, stomping towards the bathroom.

Sirius peered after him with an expression of immense amusement on his roguishly handsome face. "Grump."

The enticing aroma of breakfast perked James up a bit as he followed Sirius downstairs after he showered and dresses. Mrs. Potter smiled warmly at her son. "Morning, James," she greeted him, setting a platter of eggs and bacon in front of him.

"Morning, Mum," James replied, as he and Sirius simultaneously began shoveling food from the platter into their mouths. James paused to take a gulp of pumpkin juice. "Has the book list come yet, Mum?"

Mrs. Potter shook her head and shrugged. "Not yet, James. I think they're coming today."

"How about right now?" Sirius asked, cocking his head towards the window as he wiped his mouth with a napkin. Mrs. Potter bustled around the table and boosted the window up. Two magnificent barn owls swooped in, carrying a brown parcel each.

James and Sirius each untied their individual parcels, gave the owls a drink and a few owl treats, and watched them go on their way. Then they opened the parcels rather carelessly, glancing absently through the books and supplies that were to be needed for their seventh—

James's jaw fell open. No! It—it couldn't be! That was impossible! Surely there had been some sort of mistake!

Sirius eyed James's horrified look worriedly. "Close your mouth before you swallow a bug, mate. What's wrong?"

James didn't deign to respond. He merely stood there, staring at something he clutched tightly in one hand.

Sirius leaned over and pried James's fingers open. His eyes widened and his jaw, too, dropped. "No, mate! It can't be!"

James just stared. The small round red and gold badge glinted in the sunlight, staring him back.

Sirius suddenly let out a burst of laughter. "Well, I'll be! I always knew Dumbledore was off his rocker, but not _this_ off this rocker!" He slapped his knee. "James Potter! As _Head Boy_!"

---

One

Lily Evans gave a small, content sigh as she settled down and peered out the window of the Hogwarts Express. Her summer had been great, but all in all, she was glad to be going back to school. Lily chuckled. She'd never thought that she'd be glad to go back to school, ever. She remembered the summer she had been told that she was a witch. She'd been _dreading_ going into sixth grade, but when she arrived at Hogwarts, she absolutely looked forwards to school each and every day.

Lily rotated the ring she wore on her third finger absently. It was a simple yet elegant ring, with a silver band and a beautifully crafted white jade flower with an emerald in the center. Lily's best friend's mother was a jeweler in the magical world, and she had made three special, one-of-a-kind rings for her daughter to share with her best friends, Lily being one of them. Lily remembered the day they had all slipped on their rings and sworn to be best friends forever. The memory brought a faint smile to her lips.

Lily reached up to stroke the badge she wore on her chest. And now she was going back to Hogwarts as Gryffindor's Head Girl!

"LILS!"

Lily's best friend, daughter of the jeweler, enveloped Lily in a hug. Lily laughed as she released her, her starry aquamarine eyes shining. "It's good to see you too, Li."

Lina Starling grinned as she slid her trunk beneath her seat and sat down next to Lily. "How was your summer, Lils?" she asked, touching rings with Lily. Touching rings was kind of like their secret handshake. Lina's ring had an aquamarine stone in the center instead of an emerald. The stones matched the girls' eyes.

"Lils! Li!"

A curvy, pretty girl entered the compartment. She had velvety pitch-black hair and deep violet eyes. She gave Lily and Lina a massive bear hug and grinned. "How've you been?"

"Fine," Lily and Lina chorused happily, touching rings with the newcomer. An amethyst sparkled in the center of her jade flower.

Ryone Layne dropped down onto the compartment seat opposite Lily and Lina and pushed her long dark off of her shoulders, fanning herself with a copy of a magazine boldly titled: _Witch Fancy: How to Become that Sassy and Irresistable Girl_. "Merlin, it's hot," she panted, taking a long draught from her crinkled plastic Muggle water bottle. "You'd think it would have already cooled down, seeing as it's September, but it's still as hot as if it were the peak of July!"

At that moment, the compartment door slid open, and in stepped the Marauders, tan and tousled-haired from summer. "Why, hello, ladies," Sirius Black greeted Lily, Lina and Ryone smoothly. "I see you're all looking as gorgeous as ever, if not more so," he remarked, flashing Ryone a saucy wink, who gave a disgruntled grunt in return.

"Bug off, Black," Ryone snapped sourly, but with a twinkle in her indeed gorgeous eyes. "I'm looking to finish off my seven years at Hogwarts with a feel-good flourish, and you're _already_ ruining it."

"He does have the _charming_ tendency to do that," Remus Lupin's amused voiced admitted as he stepped out from behind Sirius. "Hello, ladies. I trust you all had a good summer?"

"Fine, thanks, Remus," Lily replied, smiling. "With the exception of my _horrid_ sister, but what else is new?" Lily sighed melodramatically. "I fear that Petunia and I will be at odds for the rest of our lives," she declared tragically.

"And of course, your summer wasn't complete without your one true love, _moi_, was it?" James Potter piped up, jostling Remus and Sirius out of his way as he plowed into the girls' compartment.

Lily rolled her striking emerald eyes and shot James a lofty glare. "Rather, my summer was _heavenly_ without _you_, Potter," she sniffed disdainfully.

"Ooh, Evans, that's cold!" Sirius chortled while James feigned a dagger to his heart.

"Oh, Evans, your words, they pierce me so!" he cried, falling into the compartment seat next to Ryone, who laughed and gave him a playful shove.

Lina smiled and peered curiously around Remus. "Where's Peter?" she inquired lightly.

Remus shrugged, glancing around for Peter's familiar chubby stature and mousy brown hair. "He hasn't arrived yet, I suppose," he answered.

Sirius swooped and plucked the magazine from Ryone's grasp, his dark eyes scanning over the cover page with great interest. "Witch Fancy, Ryone dear?" he asked, chuckling. "I would never have pegged you for that type of girl."

"_What_ type of girl, Black?" Ryone snapped, trying unsuccessfully to snatch the magazine back from Sirius's teasing hands. "And _give_ me that, before I incapacitate you. Who gave you permission to go around taking people's things?"

Sirius grinned, jerking the magazine a little higher just beyond Ryone's reach. "To be honest, Ryone, I don't know why you read these magazines; you're already _quite_ sassy and irresistible to me."

Ryone kicked at Sirius's legs, causing him to yelp in pain and surprise and drop the magazine right into Ryone's lap. "See?" he squeaked, clutching his shin and collapsing onto the compartment seat next to Lily and Lina. "Point proven."

Ryone's glittering amethyst eyes glared daggers into Sirius's mirthful dark brown ones. "You're a prat," she said, her voice as sharp as her eyes.

Sirius merely smirked. "Oh, please," he said humorously. "Not even _you_, my dear lady Ryone, can deny that I'm _dazzlingly_ handsome."

Ryone smacked him, hard, with the rolled-up magazine. "You're still a prat," she said, stuffing the magazine into her bag and setting it under the compartment seat.

Sirius's eyes lit up. "So you _do_ admit I'm dazzlingly handsome!" he exclaimed triumphantly.

"Must I smack you again?" Ryone demanded threateningly, and immediately Sirius fell silent.

Remus smiled in amusement. "You _must_ teach me how to do that one of these days," he remarked.

Ryone gave a regretful sigh. "Oh, I wish I could, but I'm afraid it's a Ryone kind of thing. But perhaps I could teach you the Silencing Charm?"

"I'd like that," Remus pronounced just as the train gave a lurch and began inching forwards on its tracks.

"Any sign of Peter?" James drawled, lazily twirling his wand in his fingers.

"None," Remus said. "I wonder where he is."

James sighed and pulled himself up. "I suppose I must go look for him," he grumbled, and exited the compartment.

"_He was late…for his date…with the love trainnnnnn_," Sirius sang, his pitch soaring as he drew out the last word.

"Put a frog in it, Black," Ryone said, stuffing a Chocolate Frog into Sirius's open mouth, "and spare us all."

Sirius effortlessly swallowed the chocolate and grinned wolfishly at Ryone. "Why, hand-feeding me sweets already, darling?" He waggled his eyebrows suggestively. "When can we bring it into, oh, say, the _bedroom_?"

Ryone gasped sharply, her violet eyes flaring in indignation as she smacked Sirius upside the head. "You _pervert_!" she exclaimed, her voice trembling angrily. "How _dare_ you—you—you perfect _prat_!"

Remus chuckled as he pulled a firm, rosy red apple from his pocket, polished it on the tail of his shirt, and bit into it. "It's good to be back," he sighed.

---

A/N: And that's that. The first chapter of my first Fan Fiction. I hope those who read it found it worth your while!

In 17, I'm going to try to focus a bit on Sirius and his experiences. We all know what happened to the other three Marauders: James married Lily and they had a child and a pretty good life until, well, they were murdered; Peter fell in with the wrong lot and became a servant of Voldemort; and Remus continued to struggle with his werewolfhood, taught a year of Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts, married Tonks and had a child, Teddy. While there isn't that much about Remus, either, there's less on Sirius: What happened to him after Hogwarts? Who was _his_ love interest? What did he do after he ran away from home?

So even though, yes, I am going to write about Lily and Remus and James and Peter, I'm going to try to shed a little more light on Sirius. I hope you guys don't mind, but on the contrary find it rather interesting.

Till next, then!

~Dessamae


	2. Bewitched With You

Two

"Did you find Peter?" Lina softly asked James as "ZYRONE, LICIA," stumbled timidly up to the Sorting Hat.

"Yup," James whispered back. "He was chatting away with Madame Roberta, the treats cart caretaker. Apparently, he wanted to stock up on the candy early, before the rest of the train could get to it." He shook his head lightly, chuckling to himself.

As Professor McGonagall carried away the Sorting Hat and the stool, Dumbledore stood, and instantly the hall hushed. "Students," he said, he voice reverberating through the Great Hall. "To those of you whom this is your first night, welcome. To those of you who are returning, welcome back." He spread his arms out wide, his blue eyes twinkling in the candlelight. "And now, to all of you, I say: eat!"

A grateful chuckle ran through the gathered students as a glorious banquet laid itself out on the long tables. James, Sirius, and Peter immediately began piling food onto their plate, while Lily and Ryone looked on in mild disgust.

"Pigs," Ryone muttered, and Remus nodded in rueful agreement.

Sirius swallowed his bulging mouthful of chicken thigh, meatloaf, and mashed potatoes and shot Ryone a cheeky grin. "But you _adore_ me nevertheless, right, darling?"

Sufficient to say a spoonful of mashed peas to the face was enough of an answer from Ryone.

---

"_Ry-Ry_…"

Ryone groaned into her pillow. _What_ was that _horrendous_ noise?

"Ryone-aaaaaa…"

"Mmph," Ryone mumbled.

"RY-RY, SWEET DARLING JEWEL OF MY HEART!"

Ryone's eyes flew open and she found herself staring into the jubilant face of the one and only Sirius Black.

"Have I ever told you how beautiful your eyes are when you're furious first thing in the morning?" Sirius asked, grinning.

Ryone's "beautiful eyes" narrowed dangerously. "Black…" she hissed, her hand slipping beneath her pillow and closing around her slender wand…

_10 Minutes Later_

"I see Ryone got the best of Sirius," Remus commented, as Ryone stalked into the Great Hall, her dark hair fluttering on her shoulders. A moment later, Sirius came stumbling after her, his hair bright pink and his nose as large and crooked as a toucan's beak.

Lily smothered a smile, twirling her fork in her scrambled eggs. "I knew we shouldn't have left Sirius to wake her up," she remarked. "I'm telling you, Ryone is never exactly Miss Pleasant in the early morning."

"Nice spell-work," Remus said admiringly as he got a closer look at Sirius's altered face. Ryone smirked and took a seat between him and Lily.

"Thank you very much, Remus," she said loftily, piling hash, bacon and sausages onto her plate.

"I must say, Sirius, your new look befits you well," James chuckled as Sirius plunked down in the seat next to him.

"I'm a fair bloke in pink," Sirius acknowledged, "but blimey, I can't even see around my nose!" He paused, considering, his gaze straying to the Slytherin table. "Perhaps I should ask _Snivellus_ how he does it."

"Don't," Remus cautioned warningly. "McGonagall won't take kindly to you causing mischief on the first day of school."

"Hmm. Well, at least I've got my comeback ready if he dares come this way," Sirius said offhandedly, gathering food on his plate.

Lily glanced amusedly at Ryone, who was now ravenously tearing apart a kipper speared on the end of her fork. "Aren't you going to remove the spell?" she inquired.

Ryone shrugged. "I don't see why I should," she said. "He hasn't asked me to, and besides, I think that he looks better now than he did before."

"At least change his nose back," Lina implored. "The pink hair isn't so bad, but he just doesn't look right with that enormous nose."

"It's my opinion that he's never looked quite right in the first place," Ryone retorted, but nevertheless drew her wand, aimed it at Sirius's overlarge nose, and murmured, "_Annamoralis_!"

With a faint whooshing sound, Sirius's nose promptly shrank back to its original size. Sirius clutched his nose and cried thanks to the ceiling, and Ryone slipped her wand back into her boot and nonchalantly resumed eating. James, meanwhile, had transfigured his golden goblet into a Howler that screamed at Lily to go out with him, and Lily was becoming quite red in the face screaming right back.

Lina and Remus exchanged looks, and Lina mock-whispered, "This lot's insane."

Remus chuckled. "I couldn't agree with you more."

---

"Stupid _Potter_," Lily spat, her face as red as her hair as she stormed up the winding stairs to the third floor. "Just when I thought he'd finally let out some of the hot air in his over-inflated head, he had to go and _mortify _me in front of the entire school. _And_ the teachers! Not only was he being an arrogant _toe rag_, but he had to go and be an arrogant toe rag so _bloody_ loudly that I'm surprised _Beauxbatons_ hasn't come to call to tell us to pipe down! _Bloody_ Potter and his _bloody_ antics…"

Ryone slung an arm around Lily's shoulders and said reassuringly, "Don't fret, Lily dear, if bloody Potter bothers you any more I'll personally see to it that his _face_ is bloody, _literally_."

Despite herself, Lily felt a laugh being tugged from her lips. "Thank you, Ryone," she said, smiling.

Lina tugged Lily and Ryone's schedules from their hands and compared it to her own. "Ryone, you and I both have History of Magic first period; we all have Divination together third period; and Ryone and I both have Charms sixth period," she said.

"What's that I hear?" a familiar voice bounded jovially up the corridor, and a moment later Sirius Black was at the girls' sides. "Thy fair Lady Starling and thy _ravishing_ Lady Layne _both_ have History of Magic first period _and_ Charms sixth period?"

Ryone smacked Sirius on the arm with her wand. "_Don't_ call me _ravishing_, Black, I'm not your sex toy."

Sirius gave a wistful sigh. "Ah, but a man can wish, can't he?" he said dreamily, earning him a sharp stomp on the foot from Ryone. "Ouch! Alright, alright, I'll stop."

Lina laughed. "Yes, Sirius, we both have Divination first period and Charms sixth period, what's it to you?"

Sirius grinned broadly. "Well, it just so happens that I, the charming Sirius Black, also have History of Magic first period and Charms sixth period." He flashed the horrified Ryone his customary audacious wink (audacious in risking the chance of Ryone jinxing him into the next week, at least) and took off, calling out behind him, "See you in class, girls!" before disappearing around the corner.

---

"…Now, who can tell me who founded the Society for the Reformation of Hags…? Anyone…? Anyone…? Miss Bones?"

"Honoria Nutcombe, Professor."

"Correct, Miss Bones, five points to Hufflepuff…"

Ryone reloaded her eagle feather quill with fresh black ink and copied down neatly in the Witches and Wizards of Historical Importance page of her History of Magic note-taking book, _Honoria Nutcombe, Founder of the Society for the Reformation of _

**Psst, Layne.**

Ryone's quill dropped at the two messily scrawled words that had suddenly appeared seemingly out of nowhere on her paper. _What the—?_

**It's me, Sirius. **

Ryone's eyes instantly shot to the desk two up from hers, where Sirius was grinning back at her. "_What are you DOING?_" she mouthed vehemently at him, her sharp eyes narrowed in a glare.

**I've bewitched your paper, Ryone darling, there's no need to overwork that pretty mouth of yours. Let's save that for the broom closets, shall we?**

Ryone could just _feel_ the blood rushing to her cheeks as she snatched up her quill.

_BLACK, ONCE WE GET OUT OF HERE YOU ARE SO—DEAD._

**As amazing as I am, I figured as much. GASP! I MUST BE PSYCHIC! Hmm. This would be more appropriate if it were Divination class.**

_I repeat, you are SO DEAD! Where do you get off, bewitching my stuff?! What did you think, that I was going to say, "Oh, well hello Sirius, what a pleasant surprise, how clever of you to place such an enchantment on MY PAPER without even TELLING, never mind ASKING, me"?!?!_

**Well…when you put it THAT way…**

_BLACK!!!_

**Racism is an ugly thing, Ryone.**

_Sirius—Black—I—am—so—going—to—bloody—THROTTLE—you—when—we—get—out—of—here!!!_

**Aw, Ry-Ry, why can't we just have a nice, pleasant conversation for once?**

_Oh, I don't know, maybe because YOU ARE A OVER-INFLATED PIG AND CAN'T CARRY ON A DECENT, CIVILIZED COVERSATION FOR TWO MINUTES WITHOUT MAKING SOME SORT OF DISGUSTING PERVERTED COMMENT OR OTHER?!?!?!_

**…This is true…**

_You disgust me._

---

"I still can't believe he bewitched my note-taking book! _Bewitched_ it! It's one thing to act like a haughty prat all the time, but it's _quite_ another to go around sticking his wand in my book bag and _bewitching_ the contents when I've turned my head! That is _literally _what he did! _Un_believable!"

Lina held Lily's hair back from her face as Lily pressed the finished Calming Draught into Ryone's hands and urged the fuming girl, "Drink, Ryone, you'll feel much better."

Ryone seethed for a moment, then grabbed the vial and threw down the contents. "I can't _believe_ him," she muttered angrily, passing the emptied vial to Lina and wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "I have never _seen_ such a _prat_!" She dropped heavily onto her bed, her eyelids fluttering. "Such an invasion of my privacy…disrespect for my personal boundaries…" Her voice trailed off, and she collapsed on her back, falling into a light, calm sleep.

Lina worriedly eyed Ryone's unnaturally still figure as she tucked a lock of her pale blond hair behind one ear. "She isn't supposed to fall asleep, is she?"

Lily let out her breath and went to rinse the potion vial in the girls' bathroom. "Sometimes recipients of the Calming Draught do fall into a light slumber, depending on their stress levels," she called over her shoulder as she turned on the gleaming faucet. "The higher the stress level, the more likely the recipient is to fall asleep."

Lina sat down at the edge of Ryone's bed. "She must have been pretty stressed, then."

Lily came out of the bathroom, nodding and brushing her long red hair away from her face. "Ryone does tend to get pretty worked up over these sort of things." She checked her watch. "I've got to get over to the Heads' meeting now. Give Ryone some chocolate when she wakes, will you?"

Lina nodded and rose from Ryone's side, settling down on her own bed with a copy of _Witch Fancy_ and a box of Chocolate Frogs. Lily quickly ran a brush through her long red hair and dabbed on some lip gloss before slipping from the dormitory. With another glance at her watch, she exited the Gryffindor tower and, after affixing her Head Girl badge to the breast of her robes, made her way to the Transfiguration classroom.

Most of the Heads had already arrived. Lily recognized Janie Wilson and Martin Hefferman from Ravenclaw; Amelia Bones and Hartford Madison from Hufflepuff; and, to her rising dislike, Narcissa Black and Lucius Malfoy from Slytherin.

"Ah, yes, Miss Evans, do please join us," said Professor McGonagall, making a mark on the roll of parchment she carried in one hand. "Now, all we are missing is Miss Evans' fellow Gryffindor Head, and then we can begin this meeting. Might you have any idea where he is, Miss Evans?"

Lily shook her head. "Actually, I don't think I've ever even had a chance to meet the Head Boy of—"

Suddenly the door to the classroom swung open, and in walked none other than James Potter, his hazel eyes bemused behind his glasses. Lily's brow furrowed and was just about to ask _what_ in Merlin's name was he doing here when she felt her chest constrict.

Because there, hanging precariously from James's rumpled robes, as if carelessly slapped on mere moments earlier, was the slightly battered-looking Head Boy badge.

James met Lily's eyes and his handsome features broke out in a wide, bright grin. "Head Boy Potter, reporting for duty!"

---

A/N: Thanks to Marteczka's Quill and Moon Archer for the reviews. Hope you enjoyed Chapter Numero Dos!

~Dessamae


	3. Summoning Practice

Three

"UNBELIEVABLE! WHY, ON THIS BLOODY SODDING PATHETIC EXCUSE OF A PLANET, IS JAMES POTTER HEAD BOY?! IT COULDN'T HAVE BEEN REMUS?! IT COULDN'T HAVE BEEN ANY ONE OF THE NUMBER OF DECENT BOYS IN THIS HOUSE? NOOO! IT JUST HAD TO BE JAMES BLOODY SODDING POTTER!!! I'M—I'M JUST—I'M SPEECHLESS!"

Ryone cringed and rasped croakily, "That's funny, you don't sound speechless to me!"

Lily collapsed in an exhausted heap on her bed. "Bloody sodding bugger," she muttered, forcefully punching her pillow ("ow!" squeaked the pillow before bursting into tears, "I'm so misunderstooooood…" …ahem…sorry…).

Lina came and sat by Lily's side on her bed, her blue-gray eyes speculative. "Well, Lily, think about it: it isn't really James's fault that he's Head Boy. If you really want to blame someone, I suppose the only person you can really blame is Dumbledore."

Lily's startled green eyes opened wide, and she looked at Lina, aghast. "I can't blame Dumbledore; he's only the best!"

Ryone shrugged. "Well, it was _the best's_ decision to put you and James together as the Heads of Gryffindor, sooo…"

Lily grumpily chucked a pillow at Ryone. "Fine," she huffed. "So maybe it isn't anybody's fault…"

Ryone flicked her wand and the pillow threw itself back at Lily. "Glad you realized," she said sourly, rubbing the sore spot on her cheekbone that had been sharply grazed by the edge of her square-framed glasses after the pillow had smacked her in the face and nearly knocked them off. "Ouch…I think I'm bleeding…"

Lily drew her wand, pointed it at Ryone's wound, and said clearly, "_Reparo_."

The torn skin instantly sealed up, leaving Ryone's complexion as smooth as ever.

Ryone gaped at Lily. "You—you just—you can't use _Reparo_ on a person!"

Lily shrugged. "I don't see why not. It worked, didn't it?"

"Yes, but—it's not supposed to!" Ryone sputtered. "_Reparo_ is for objects, strictly!"

"'_Reparo_ is for objects, strictly'?" Lina echoed, amused. "Don't you mean _Reparo_ is strictly for objects? Or _Reparo_ is for strictly objects?"

Ryone loftily fluttered her hand. "I don't have time for your _technicalities_, Starling," she said mock-disdainfully, grinning, and Lina uttered a mock-offended "Well!"

Lily impatiently beat her fists against her bed mattress. "Help me!" she cried. "How am I supposed to survive with James bloody sodding Potter as Head Boy when I'm Head Girl?!"

Ryone pondered for a moment, and then her stormy eyes lit up. "Brilliant!" she exclaimed, and drew her wand from her boot. "_Accio Remus_!"

Lily frowned at Ryone. "What are you—?"

"**OOMPH!**"

Lina shrieked. "What was that?!"

"Uh, girls a little—OOMPH!"

Ryone giggled.

"Hello, anybody there, some help here—OOMPH—please?!"

Lily broke out in a wide grin. "Why does he keep grunting?"

"Because—OOMPH—I'm being bloody slammed—OOMPH—against the door every sodding—OOMPH—three seconds!"

Lina chuckled and stood, crossing the dormitory to the door. She pulled it open and the slightly harassed-looking Remus zoomed in and collapsed on the floor.

Ryone's slender shoulders shook with her laughter. "Ah…that was fun…"

"For you, maybe," Remus grumbled, picking himself up off the floor and dusting off his clothes. "For me, it was like acquiring a full-body bruise in half a minute or less."

Lina giggled and slung an arm around Remus's shoulders. "Aww, doeth thomeone have a booboo?" she cooed.

Remus good-naturedly rolled his eyes. "Oh, please, I get enough of that from James and Sirius, not you, too!"

Lina laughed, and Remus grinned abashedly.

Remus clapped his hands together briskly. "So, moving on, what did you summon me for?" He shot a look in Ryone's direction. "_Literally_, thank you very much."

Ryone grinned. "We wanted to ask for your advice on how Lily should handle James being her fellow Gryffindor Head."

Remus smirked as he came and perched on the end of Lily's bed. "Of course, of course. See, this is what I told James and Sirius and Peter…"

---

"Merlin's pants, this is the best chicken that I have ever had in my entire _life_."

Remus eyed Ryone in amusement. "Ry, that's duck."

Ryone blinked. "Oh. WHATEVER."

Sirius faked shock. "RY-RY! DON'T YOU KNOW YOUR MEATS?!"

Ryone shot him a look. "No, because I, unlike you, Sirius Black, actually have a life."

Sirius gasped. "HOW COULD YOU SAY THAT, RYONE LAYNE?! AFTER ALL THAT I HAVE DONE FOR YOU?!"

Ryone just rolled her eyes, shoveled in the last mouthful of her chicken/duck-and-rice, and stood. "Catch you guys later."

"Wait, where are you going?" Lily asked confusedly.

"To the library," Ryone called back as she pushed open the great double doors that lead into the corridor outside.

"TO DO WHAT?" Lily shouted after her.

"To research for my Potions essay, Mum!" Ryone laughed and she disappeared from the Great Hall.

Outside in the corridor, Ryone breathed a light sigh of relief and started towards the school's library.

It was six thirty p.m. and the library was quiet and empty save for the soft mutterings of the librarian, Madame Pince, as she sat at her desk sorting out piles of returned books. Ryone found the Healing section and the books that she had been looking for: _Rare Magical Diseases_, by Analda Hill. For just the barest moment, Ryone hesitated; then she reached out and pulled the text from the shelf.

Ryone found an empty table and began flipping through _Rare Magical Diseases_, coming to a stop on the _Rare Genetic Magical Diseases_ section and beginning to read.

---

"Hmm…that's strange," Lily said as she sat again. "I distinctly remember that Ryone had finished her Potions essay yesterday…"

"Maybe she was looking over it, and found that she'd mistaken one of her facts," Lina offered.

Lily shook her head. "No, no, you know that she never double-checks her work, she's too much of a genius to make mistakes on her homework…no, something is up, I can tell…"

Sirius sprang to his feet and bellowed happily, "Detective Sirius, at your service!"

James laughed. "Pipe down, you prat."

A look came into Lily's eye. "No, no, as much of an idiot as Sirius is—"

"I resent that!"

"—a little investigating just might be exactly what we need." Lily turned to Sirius. "Ahem…'Detective Sirius'…"

Sirius's eyes lit up. "You mean I actually get to be Detective Sirius? All right! This never happens!"

Lily rolled her eyes. "Detective Sirius, I command you to go after Ryone and find out what she's really up to."

Sirius saluted. "I'LL GET IT DONE IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO!" And as James, Lily, Remus and Lina all watched, Sirius ran with a comical determination from the Great Hall.

Remus chuckled and lightly shook his head in amusement. "Actually, knowing Ryone, I wouldn't be surprised in the least if it _were_ the last thing that he does."

---

All alone in the library, with the last rays of the setting sun gently caressing her face, Ryone lifted her favorite eagle-feather quill and dipped its freshly sharpened tip into her full-to-brimming inkwell. She shook loose the excess droplets of deep black ink and, smoothing out the fresh roll of parchment before her, began to write.

_Rare Magical Diseases, section Rare Genetic Magical Diseases, page 364_

_Name of Disease: Lumosa _

_Date Discovered: 1878_

_Carrier Rate: 1 out of 10_

_Average Survival Rate: 3 years after disease first surfaces_

Ryone shivered as she read the disease's description, simplifying the complex text in her head and recording the bare essentials on the roll of parchment.

_Description: Lumosa is a disease in which there is something not right with the magic and the way it flows through the body of a witch or wizard. The magic absorbs more of the witch or wizard's life energy than necessary and ends up burning up too much for the body to recreate. In the final stages, lumosa can be very painful and result in constant unconsciousness. _

Ryone sighed softly and looked down at the neatly curving words written in dark, smooth ink drying on the parchment before her.  
From behind the bookshelf of copies of Transfiguration books where he was hiding, Sirius sank to the floor to ponder over what he had just seen. Obviously, Ryone was no longer working on her Potions essay; instead, she seemed to be looking at a book on magical diseases. Sirius snuck another peek at Ryone, who was now gazing out the library window with a distant, faraway look in her eyes; why was she looking at a book on magical diseases? Sirius hesitated; he wasn't really _that_ stupid, and the only reason that he could think of was that Ryone—

No. It couldn't be. If that were the case, then she would have definitely told Lina and Lily, and Lily would have told Remus, and Remus would have told him and James. So why…?

Sirius quietly withdrew from behind the bookshelf and slipped soundlessly from the library, only one thing on his mind: what _was_ Ryone really up to?

---

_Rare Magical Diseases, section Rare Genetic Magical Diseases, page 364_

_Name of Disease: Lumosa _

_Date Discovered: 1878_

_Carrier Rate: 1 out of 10_

_Average Survival Rate: 3 years after disease first surfaces_

_Description: Lumosa is a disease in which there is something not right with the magic and the way it flows through the body of a witch or wizard. The magic absorbs more of the witch or wizard's life energy than necessary and ends up burning up too much for the body to recreate. In the final stages, lumosa can be very painful and result in constant unconsciousness. _

_First Stage Symptoms: Vertigo, nausea, constant cramps and/or stomachaches, hot flashes, cold flashes_

_Second Stage Symptoms: Headaches, constant nosebleeds_

_Third Stage Symptoms: Sudden sensitivity to light, blurriness of vision, lack of energy, loss of short-term memory, soreness of bones, migraines, easily able to bruise_

_Fourth Stage Symptoms: Constant lethargy, migraines, sudden and severe pains of the body, lack of energy, easily able to bleed, lack of appetite, loss of weight, restless sleep, unusual weakness of the body, temporary memory loss_

_Last Stage Symptoms: Death_

_Treatments: The official cure/treatment of the lumosa disease has not yet been found; however, there are many clinical trials in the works, one of which is the viral treatment, the most developed treatment as of yet. The viral treatment is a specially engineered virus that is injected into the sick patient's body and is designed to target the malfunction in the magic of the witch or wizard's body and attack and undo the malfunction. However, the viral treatment is still underdeveloped and extremely risky, as the chances of complications arising are very high. Complications include death or short-term to permanent loss of magical ability. _

---

**A/N: Sorry about the hideous delay in updating! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and you are all probably thinking that Ryone has that mysterious lumosa disease, whose last stage is death. Well. You're just going to have to stay with me to find out, aren't you? :)**

**5 reviews and I'll get the next chapter up by next week. PLEASE? puppy dog eyes**

**.waves  
**


End file.
